The San Diego Latino Research Center of Excellence is a tri-lateral collaboration that seeks to promote and expedite research that improves cardiovascular disease outcomes in low-income Latinos living in the border region of San Diego. San Diego State University (SDSU) and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) represent two large research intensive universities, one with a school of public health and the other with a school of medicine, but both with experience and interest in community based research and training. The San Ysidro Health Center (SYHC) is a large, predominantly Latino-serving community health center that provides services to disadvantaged patients. Together, these organizations will build on existing relationships to conduct epidemiologic, behavioral, and genetic research in an effort to improve the care being delivered to indigent Latinos at risk for and having CVD. Investigators and staff at these three institutions will be referred to as the San Diego Partnership Staff. The San Diego Latino Research Center of Excellence proposes to focus on the disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its associated risk factors experienced by low-income Latinos living in the San Diego border region. The center will conduct rigorous community-based research that will primarily lead to reduction in disparities for disadvantaged populations, and at the same time provide improved service to the community, answer important biomedical questions, build research capacity in the community, and stimulate and train investigators in CVD disparities. The goals of the San Diego Latino Center of Excellence are: Goal 1: Conduct research that will reduce CVD disparities in a predominantly Latino community through culturally and linguistically appropriate applications of the ADA and NCEP guidelines Goal 2: Strengthen the infrastructure for minority health and health disparities research and training at SDSU, UCSD, and SYHC Goal 3: Increase the number of minority investigators engaged in cardiovascular disparities research Goal 4: Strengthen the research infrastructure at a community site, SYHC, thereby increasing the potential for university-community partnerships in which research is conducted.